Watchmen a Box Office Flop?
Yikes. Only 55 mil. It cost 60 million to market. Even the anti-Watchmen pundits thought it’d come in around 62 million. Let the navel gazing to begin. We do think that WB will make their money back on DVD, special editions, download, and PPV… First, though, I think it was a weak cast. A few A-Listers would’ve helped bring people in — and perhaps be better performers. Secondly, they were selling this as the X-Men. It’s Alan freakin’ Moore — not Stan Lee. I’m sure the Mall people felt a bit screwed leaving the theater — creating a negative word of mouth. Sure, the fan boys came out on the opening day, but watch the box office drop even more next week.
Watchmen,” an unorthodox superhero movie that took two decades to reach the big screen, took the No. 1 spot at the weekend box office in North America on Sunday, but fell a little short of expectations.
The adaptation of a cult comic book series sold an estimated $55.7 million in tickets in its first three days, distributor Warner Bros. Pictures said, becoming the biggest opening of the year.
But pundits had expected an opening in the $60 million-plus range, and the tally was considerably lower than the $71 million start two years ago for “300,” the previous film from “Watchmen” director Zack Snyder. The ancient battle epic holds the record for a March opening. “Watchmen” ranks at No. 3.
- from Reuters